Hietaniemi Cemetery
Finland buries its wars and its architects on the same sand-cape headland.
Coming soon on iOS — be first to walk Helsinki offline.
Established in 1829, Hietaniemi is Helsinki's site for state funerals. The military section covers three conflicts — the Winter War, Continuation War, and Lapland War — with Marshal Mannerheim's tomb and the tomb of the unknown soldier at its centre. Other notable sections include Artist's Hill and the Statesmen's Grove. Among the many notable interments are architects Alvar and Aino Aalto and Nobel Peace Prize laureate Martti Ahtisaari.
What to look for
- Mannerheim's tomb at the centre of the military cemetery, surrounded by soldiers from three separate wars against the Soviet Union and Nazi Germany
- The graves of architects Alvar and Aino Aalto and Nobel Peace Prize laureate Martti Ahtisaari, among the many notable Finns interred here since the 1820s
- The promontory edge where the cemetery meets Hietaniemi Beach — the name means 'sand cape' and sits centrally in Helsinki
Owned by the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Finland; two Lutheran funerary chapels and a crematorium are on site.
Hietaniemi Cemetery is one of 22 sights worth the detour in Helsinki, all bundled offline in Voyage GO — download the Helsinki pack and it sits on your map with no signal, filling your travel passport the moment you walk past.
More to see in Helsinki
- SuomenlinnaThe "Gibraltar of the North" surrendered to Russia in two months — then got renamed Finnish in 1918.
- Helsinki CathedralA green dome raised to honor a Russian tsar — now the defining silhouette of an independent Finland.
- Helsinki Olympic StadiumDesigned for a 1940 Olympics that World War II cancelled, this functionalist bowl waited twelve years to finally light the torch.
- AteneumIn 1903 this became the first museum in the world to hang a Van Gogh — and that painting is still here.
- Senate SquareOne architect arranged church, state, university, and trade around a single square — and a tsar's statue quietly became a protest site.
- Temppeliaukio Church (Rock Church)A Lutheran church excavated out of solid rock — no spire, no facade, just raw rock and a rim of sky.